Once again, despite the dramatic situation and the pit lane full with people and paramedics, Roland Bruynseraede, the race director, doesn’t suspend nor slow down the race. The race ends with the third consecutive win of Schumacher, ahead of Larini and Häkkinen. On the podium the drivers, who remember the accidents of the previous days and are informed about the race ones, have a composed attitude and don’t celebrate with champagne. However, nobody informs them about the seriousness of Ayrton Senna’s accident. So, Schumacher and Häkkinen celebrate, though calmly, the result and even Larini, during the victory lap, is influenced by the happiness of the crowd. When celebrations end, Briatore informs Schumacher of Senna’s real condition and even Häkkinen and Larini, who are not far away, discover the real situation of the collegue. Schumacher, becoming aware of the truth, bursts into tears and thinks about retiring from racing forever. Flavio Briatore will say:
"Michael Schumacher changed after Ayrton Senna’s death. He really thought about retiring after what happened. However, luckily for us all, he decided to continue".
Now that the race is finally over, the debate begins. Michael Schumacher, interviewed after the race, has some ideas:
"We have to limit the speed in the pit lane and extend the starting area in some tracks. Before Imola I discussed the problem of safety with Senna, Berger and Alboreto, but ideas and interests were different. Now that Ayrton has passed away, I think that we all agree...".
Clay Regazzoni, instead, doesn’t blame the Imola circuit but the cars and the technical regulations:
"Blaming the Imola circuit when the problems are the cars, the safety, the downforce, and these absurde regulations is useless. As long as we continue to race with these cars that are more like military jets than cars, the risks will always be that high. Today Formula 1 has gone back fifty years. We have to denounce the responsibles for this carnage. These two deaths were not casual because we all know that the tracks don’t get better in the same amount of time. We have to re-discuss all Formula 1 to give the fans the possibility to follow the Grand Prix and be excited for the champions’ skills and not for these death memories".
Then he continues:
"We have to stop this Formula 1. In this championship I don’t see the sport, I just see a huge business and there are other people that agree with me. The FIA is controlled by irresponsible people who create only killing cars. You just have to get near these cars to understand how dangerous they are. Nowadays the driver isn’t important anymore. The flat floor and the downforce have to change as soon as possible. Barrichello’s accident was the last stroke of luck. We can’t continue like this. If the car arrives so quickly towards the wall there’s nothing else to do but pray. All the safety measures have to be re-considered not only by the stewards but also by the drivers because they are the ones that risk their life. After so long from the last death, De Angelis’ one, we thought that these cars had reached an excellent safety level. They have not".
Michele Alboreto agrees with him and says:
“I’m really pissed off. Do you know that next week there will be some practices here in Imola? Do you know how many times I’ve talked about safety with the stewards? Many times. Who listened to what I was saying?”
He continues:
"Who listened when I was talking about the dangerousness of the refueling in the pits or about the speed in the pits? It’s crazy because we are the ones that are inside the car and the four guys that I hitted today are the ones that risk. These guys can’t risk like this. We can’t risk our life because there aren’t accurate regulations or a speed limit. In the Indy championship, they go in the pits at 40 km/h. If you go at 41 km/h you receive a ten-seconds penalty. Why can’t we do the same thing?"
Then he concludes talking about the next race, that will be in Monaco:
"And next week in Monte-Carlo? There the pits are among the trees. Well, I will go to the pits at 50 km/h. I will tell the team so they can calculate the forty seconds that I will need when I go into the pits. The other drivers can do what they want. If they’re intelligent, they will do the same thing. We have to reflect in this sport".
Osama Goto, Ferrari’s Japanese technician, with his eyes red from crying, can barely say:
"It wasn’t Alboreto’s fault, losing a tyre in the pits can happen. Unfortunately, this time the consequences have been more serious than expected. In Imola there were a series of negative coincidences that I can’t explain: over many years nothing has happened, now we got scared enough".
While everyone, without exception, starts talking and expressing their opinion, 9.556.000 Italians are watching the television to know what has happened to Ayrton Senna. During the hours that follow the Grand Prix, the live television goes from the Imola circuit to the Ospedale Maggiore of Bologna and then to the television studios. Meanwhile, in Imola people continue to work in a general shock. The boxes have to be cleared: in the Williams’ one, the logistics technician eliminates everything that the team brings to a race and that is no longer necessary. Later that day, the only thing that remains there is a grey bike with Senna’s brand. He didn’t want to touch that bike because it is the only thing left of the Brazilian driver. When someone walks by Williams’ motorhome and sees that bike, goes away quickly with the eyes red from crying. Nobody holds the tears near that bike that has a red sign which says:
"To be photographed with Ayrton on track".
It was 2:34 p.m. when the helicopter went from the Imola circuit to Ospedale Maggiore of Bologna. Ayrton was moved very quickly because he had to undergo a tracheotomy with mechanical equipment. A few minutes before, at 2:17 p.m., when Ayrton’s car crashed against the wall at Tamburello, Dr. Fiandri was at home watching the Grand Prix on television with her sons, which are Formula 1 fans. She is on call. Looking at television pictures, she immediately understands that the accident is serious, so she changes her clothes and gets in her car. The beep of the pager rings a little later, but she is already driving towards Ospedale Maggiore of Bologna. At 2:45 p.m., Dr. Fiandri reaches Ospedale Maggiore of Bologna at the same time of the helicopter that is carrying Ayrton. During the flight, Ayrton’s heartbeat starts beating again, though feebly. The Brazilian driver is carried straightaway in intensive care. The first thing that Dr. Fiandri notices is the deep cut on the left eyebrow. The rest of the body is intact, there are no significant injuries. But concentrating on the face area, doctors notice the skull fractures:
"He was handsome and serene, I had this impression. The face was of course a bit swollen from the trauma but I remember that there was someone next to me that said: he is so handsome".
Dr. Fiandri remembers the first minutes like this. A few moments later, at 03:15 p.m., gets out of the emergency room and in the hall of the Ospedale Maggiore of Bologna affirms to the press:
"A severe head trauma, circulatory insufficiency and airways hemorrhagic shock have been found. The patient will undergo a CT scan. In any case the neurosurgeon excludes any type of surgery".
When Dr. Fiandri tells this to the press, Ayrton is carried from the emergency room on the ground floor to the radiology department on the eleventh floor of Ospedale Maggiore, wrapped in a golden space blanket. Here the CT scan is performed and confirms what doctors have suspected: there are massive injuries that cannot be operated. At 04:30 p.m., there is another press conference. This time, there are five doctors: with Dr. Fiandri there are the head of the radiology department Sandro Sartoni, the surgeon Franco Baldoni, the neurosurgeon Alvaro Andreoli and the head of services of Imola and the helicopter that transported Senna to Ospedale Maggiore of Bologna, Giovanni Gordini.
"The clinical situation is dramatic: there are multiple fractures at the bottom of the braincase, a cerebral edema, a frontal fracture and a massive blood loss of the superficial temporal artery. The CT scan didn’t show any hematoma that should be removed but there is an overall pain of the brain. Senna is in a deep coma. The long cardiac arrest has certainly provoked irreversible damage, but at that speed nothing more could have been done".
The news is spread all over the hospital. In the hall there are cameras, recorders, and even Brazilian flags taken by some fans that want to pay their respects to Ayrton. At the same time, when the race ends, Frank Williams calls the Ospedale Maggiore to have more information on the conditions of his driver. Shortly afterwards, the hospital chaplain Padre Amedeo Zuffa, aware of the situation, reaches the room where Ayrton is in order to bring the Sacraments to the Brazilian driver who, at least for now, is still alive but unconscious. Meanwhile, doctors decide to perform an electroencephalogram to understand if there was still some brain activity: at 5:50 p.m. the sad reality comes out. Five minutes later, at 5:55 p.m., Dr. Fiandri goes into the hall and confirms what doctors have suspected: the electroencephalogram didn’t show any brain activity. Ayrton is in a deep coma. This statement leaves no hope. The Italian law is the only one that still doesn’t allow the disconnection of the body from the machinery unless there is a cardiac arrest. A man who was with Priest Amedeo Zuffa, gone back to the eleventh floor of the Ospedale Maggiore of Bologna, describes what he has just seen to the Brazilian journalist Livio Oricchio. In addition, this man, being at the centre of attention, is caught up in excitement and starts to describe in detail what he saw to the people around him, who are becoming more and more curious. Livio Oricchio, after having seen this extremely embarrassing and unrespectful scene, runs behind the man and asks him to stop talking. Meanwhile, Galvão Bueno and Betise Assumpção get off the elevator. The Brazilian journalist goes to his colleague Livio Oricchio and, with a shaky voice but without crying, tells him:
"It’s over… it’s over".
Oricchio informs Galvao about what that man was still doing so, for the second time, they both ask him to stop talking. Thanks to this second intervention, the man understands his mistake and goes away with Priest Amadeo Zuffa. After a while, Gerhard Berger, a friend and ex rival of Ayrton, arrives at the hospital after retiring from the Imola race. He decided to get there after being informed about Senna’s serious condition and reached Dr. Sid Watkins to Ospedale Maggiore of Bologna:
"Professor Sid Watkins was there and told me that Ayrton wasn’t well. He asked me if I wanted to see him in the operating theatre".
So, Berger asks the doctors if he can get inside the room to see one of his closest friends one last time. Later on, Dr. Giovanni Gordini will tell:
"He asked us if he could get inside his room, the same room where he was hospitalized after his accident at Tamburello. We explained to him what to expect. He got inside and stayed there until the end. They had to be really close friends. I think it’s rare for a driver to do what Berger did".
Gerhard will tell:
"I got in and they were doing something with his head while was covered. We stayed in front of him for a while and then we left. After that, they confirmed that he passed away".
At 07:00 p.m., on May 1, 1994, among many microphones, cameras and people crying in shock and praying, Dr. Maria Teresa Fiandri, head of the resuscitation department and of 911 of Ospedale Maggiore of Bologna, has to announce it to the people that are watching television and to the press in the hall:
"At 6:40 p.m., Ayrton’s heart stopped. The encephalogram was already flat for quite some time".
At 7:30 p.m. Frank Williams arrives, while preparations for the transport of the body are in progress. At 9.00 p.m., Ayrton is carried in Via Irnerio, to the Institute of Legal Medicine of Bologna. Gerhard Berger escapes into the night from the Maggiore Hospital. No tears on his face, but with a marked expression that made him look twenty years older. He probably flees to his refuge in Worgl, a village near the glamorous Kitzbuhel. Where he learned to ski fast before driving fast, where he could embrace his beloved Cristina, the twelve-year-old daughter. Gerhard Berger, the driver who, after the loss of Ayrton Senna, becomes one of the guiding figures in Formula 1, in terms of experience and results, emerges deeply affected by the tragic events of a dark weekend of accidents and mourning.
"It won't be easy to forget. Actually, we won't be able to forget. But life, at least for us, goes on. These days, everything and its opposite can be said. However, risk is our profession, a personal choice. I don't want to comment on what happened. I am against all speculations that will be made in this moment of strong emotions".
Speculations, emotions, controversies, criticisms, accusations. Doesn't it seem like the circus has reached a breaking point?
"It's true, we have reached the limit. Something needs to be done, certain mistakes need to be corrected. However, the fact remains that our profession is linked to the risk of life. It cannot be completely denied; we can try to reduce it".
Who will take care of it? The Federation that seems absent on certain issues? Or the drivers who have always behaved like sheep, accepting to be gladiators ready for sacrifice?
"We all need to reflect on our conscience. After the death of my friend Ratzenberger, we talked: Senna, Alboreto, Schumacher, and I. Now that Ayrton is no longer here, I personally commit to raising awareness among the drivers about safety".
Yet Gerhard Berger, after Saturday's accident that cost Roland Ratzenberger's life, decided to return to the track immediately.
"Let's be clear. Let's not engage in pure demagogy, as others have tried to do. Racing is dangerous. Roland died because of an unforeseeable failure on his car, the breakage of a wing. If, in the impact of a tragic accident, we decide not to race anymore, then we might as well stay at home. And this should apply to practice as well as the race, yesterday, today, tomorrow, or a year from now".
It wasn't just Ratzenberger. Barrichello's crash on Friday, then Ayrton Senna's tragedy...
"Honestly, when Barrichello hit the tires, I had a moment where I felt how close we are sometimes between life and death. Now I know we are at the limit. I had to decide if I was prepared to take certain risks. I asked myself: do you want to race tomorrow or not? The answer was: I want to race".
And what happened during the race, leading to retirement without a specific cause?
"It's simple. I like being a driver, facing the dangers of racing, competition. However, my car sent me a strange signal; there was something wrong with the rear left. I thought: maybe it's a tire. Only later did the technicians discover that it was a failure in a shock absorber. I had gone straight into the chicane, for the same problem. At that point, it would have been foolish to continue. And I announced to Ferrari my return to the pits. Fear? Perhaps yes, but above all, I am not reckless".
How much fear after Senna's Williams went off the track?
"A lot. In the team, they later told me that I looked shocked. Jean Todt, before the second start, whispered to me: if you don't restart, we'll just say bravo. I replied: if I don't restart, I'll never get back on a single-seater again".
And then the Ferrari mechanics were hit in the pits.
"A truly heartbreaking scene. Even on that occasion, I feared the worst. But we had to muster strength; I was there and tried to contribute. They are all good guys. And, unlike us, they don't make billions with Formula 1. If something more serious had happened, that would have been the real tragedy. They shouldn't be involved in the risk".
Gerhard Berger speaks in Italian, in German, in English. Amid pauses and reflections, with vacant eyes. Perhaps he thinks of the three years spent at McLaren with Ayrton Senna, perhaps of the future. Perhaps of his family, Cristina, his partner Anna. Maybe even of the dream of his life: winning the world title with Ferrari. He wonders if the game is worth it, if the millions of dollars also serve, like opium, to induce forgetfulness.
"No, I am already wealthy, I own a nice company, everything I desire. I want to do a job that is a passion, to the fullest".
The next day at 11:10 a.m., even Ronald Ratzenberger’s father arrives with an Opel. Anonymously, he goes through girls that are crying and holding some flowers, and guys that waited all night to see the body of the greatest of all time, as someone screams. The day after, at the Institute of Legal Medicine of Bologna, the first and the last of the class rest peacefully in the same room with the same destiny.
For Roland Ratzenberger there is only his father there, for Ayrton there is a crowd. But they are there together, lying in two beds of a dark room, where noises and rays of sunshine come in lightly. Two faces: Ratzenberger’s one, calm, and Senna’s one, swollen and injured. The champion lies naked on the stretcher, covered by a white sheet, with flowers and telegrams placed on the ground, scattered all around like a large and disorderly crown. His face is unrecognizable, swollen, marked by scars, cuts, and blood matted in his hair. Senna can only be dressed on Tuesday morning, after the autopsy.
"He went to heaven at the first impact".
Whispers the first doctor who assisted him on Sunday afternoon on the Imola track. Ronald Ratzenberger also went to heaven on Saturday afternoon, and now he is there on the stretcher next to him, without flowers, without telegrams, without a crowd, perhaps without tears. For both of them, the judge ordered an autopsy because there is an ongoing investigation, the golden world of Formula 1 needs answers, certainties. There they are, the first and the last of the class together, united by the same fate, the same curse. Leonardo, Ayrton's brother, arrives on Sunday evening at the Institute of Forensic Medicine on Via Irnerio, then leaves, closes himself at the Novotel, and clings to the phone. Everyone is waiting for him, everyone is looking for him. Ronald's father arrives, and no one knows his name, passing through the girls crying with flowers in their hands, through the young people who have waited all night, right here, to see the body of the greatest of all, as someone shouts, passing through the photographers besieging his car and then leaving disappointed because it wasn't Leonardo, that gentleman in tears. His son, Ronald Ratzenberger, died the day before the champion, perhaps they will remember him for this. Ronald, after all, was somehow in Senna's destiny. Says Angelo Orsi, a photographer, a friend of Senna, amidst the crowd:
"After that incident, Ayrton went to the spot where Simtec had gone off the track, talked to people, tried to understand. And the stewards had reprimanded him for that. He was afraid, it's true".
Almost a premonition. And according to Celso Fratini, a Brazilian, a friend, and collaborator in the champion's company, this impression is strengthened:
"Before the start, he was strange, different. Usually, he jokes with the mechanics, talks, laughs. Not on Sunday. If there's one thing that struck me, it's this image that I have in front of my eyes. He stood there still, with his hands resting on the rear wing, his gaze lost on the car, as if caressing it, without saying a word, for three, four minutes. Someone came, asked for an autograph, and he gestured to say no. It seemed like he felt something, feared something".
These are somewhat the same things Adriane Galisteu, his girlfriend, told her mother and a Brazilian radio:
"He called me the other night. He was very depressed and nervous: he had a bad feeling and wanted to give up the race. He was even tempted to quit racing forever".
And that Senna had somehow confirmed and explained in an interview with Globo on Sunday morning:
"Removing all electronics was a big mistake; the cars are very fast and difficult to drive. It will be a season not to laugh about, a year with many accidents".
But now, in front of this gate besieged by this emotionally charged crowd, what's the point of remembering? The champion was a fearless myth, and if he feared anything, it's the destiny of the great to understand when the time comes, as Rebecca Baccarani, 19 years old, from Modena, cries, holding her bouquet of mimosas. There is a small army of boys and girls like her, who have paralyzed Bologna, blocked traffic to pay homage to their idol, the unknown crowd of a circus that dispenses joys and sorrows like life: Deanna Villani covered with the Brazilian flag, Milena Marini crying, embraced by her boyfriend, and then the one with the blue National cap, as Senna used to wear:
"I hope to see him again, for the last time. He was my idol".
And there's a fifteen-year-old girl who spends the night here, a yellow-blue scarf around her neck, and when morning comes, she's still there, in front of the gate, head down:
"Because I don't believe it, until I see it, I don't believe it".
It doesn't matter if all this makes sense or not. This procession continues and will only end on Tuesday when they take away the champion. Friends, drivers, fans pass by. Pedro Lamy, also involved in an accident at Imola:
"The best has died, but I will continue to race because this is my life".
Nicola Lanini adds:
"It was fate".
Paolo Stanzani, president of Scuderia Italia, says:
"These three days in Imola were incredible. A terrible track, a weekend like this, I don't remember".
The Mayor of Bologna, Walter Vitali, admits:
"This is the pain of a city".
They all speak amidst the crowd, surrounded by fans. Since Sunday afternoon, this commingling continues, this confusion that unites everyone without distinction. At 6:40 p.m. on Sunday when they announce Senna's death, the auditorium of the hospital is crowded like on a too-small stage; nurses and doctors in white coats, patients in pajamas, others with crutches, employees, journalists, and photographers, a strange crowd that almost disperses and ignores the girls in tears standing still in the doorway, leaning against the wall. There's no more amazement in the large hall; a bit of emotion has faded away. Afterward, there will be the anger of Brazilian reporters who complain about the disorder and because:
"The law enforcement only thought about treating us badly".
The last altercation is at 9:30 p.m., in front of the Institute of Forensic Medicine. They have just brought Senna here.
Down at the end, in a corridor, next to Ratzenberger. During the night, one person will manage to take two photos, at an external request and with the promise of a lavish reward, of Ayrton Senna's swollen face. This incident, however, will be immediately reported to the judicial authorities, and the photos will never be shown. Tuesday, May 2, 1994, at 9:30 a.m., an autopsy is performed on Senna’s body and at 3:00 p.m. on Roland’s body by Dr. Michele Romanelli and Pier Ludovico Ricci, together with the expert surveyor Corrado Cipolla D’Abruzzo. The first one determines that Ayrton passed away due to a basal head trauma from the evident point of impact on the right side of the forehead. This was caused by a massive pressure and by the cardiocirculatory arrest. Roland, instead, sustained a severe head trauma (the fracture of the cap in half), two broken vertebrae, a damaged marrow with blood loss, and severe internal traumas, including the spleen, and a massive blood loss. It is certain that Ratzenberger and Senna did not pass away because of an illness. On May 3, 1994, after the autopsy and two-days after the Imola accident, the Brazilian president Itamar Franco - to return Ayrton’s body home as soon as possible - calls the Italian president Oscar Luigi Scalfaro and asks him to hasten the bureaucracy in order to return the Brazilian hero at home because millions of people are waiting for him. Scalfaro understands perfectly the delicacy of the situation and provides a government flight. Meanwhile, Niki Lauda is in Vienna, at the offices of his airline. The phones are constantly ringing, a concert of trills.
"Everyone wants to know something. There has been a lot, too much talk in these hours of pain. Someone has even misinterpreted certain statements of mine. A news agency made me say that Formula 1 races no longer make sense. I am the first to support that something needs to be done to change course. But one should not instrumentalize everything and everyone".
Have you reviewed the images of Senna's accident? What is your assessment?
"I have watched them countless times. I still have them in my eyes, as if I were in Schumacher's car following the Williams. And, from what you can see, it is very difficult to judge, to find the exact reasons that caused this incredible off-track incident. Some hypotheses can be made. The most likely is a mechanical failure. A broken suspension could have caused the sudden and inevitable change of trajectory. Another possible cause is a sudden change in aerodynamic configuration. If it is true that there is a slight unevenness at that point between two different asphalt flows, the car could have touched the track with the rear part. In these cases, complete adhesion is lost with the aggravation, perhaps, of receiving a push in the wrong direction".
Has anyone also mentioned the possibility of a driver error?
"I refuse to believe that a champion like Senna could have made a mistake at that point. It is a part of the circuit that is called a corner but is actually a straight line for those who drive. The steering wheel moves only a few millimeters. For Ayrton, this discussion does not exist; he was the best".
And, faced with an emergency situation, did he have any chance to react?
"These are moments. Generally, someone like the Brazilian would have tried, at least, to seek a more oblique impact, to make the car more parallel to the wall. If things are as daring as one might think, if he didn't do it, it's because it wasn't possible. If he had the wheels lifted, for example, he couldn't brake or try to steer. All the negative factors added up. The extremely high speed, close to 300 km/h, the lack of escape routes, the wall so close to the track surface, the absence of barriers to slow down the mad race, the angle of impact. A kind of curse".
Now, what can be done to try to go back, to respect human limits?
"We must not be carried away by strong emotions of the moment. Much work has been done in recent years. It was since 1986, when there was the tragic loss of Elio de Angelis in a test at Castellet with Brabham, that nothing like this had happened. Even though accidents have not been lacking. Senna himself had been involved in incredible crashes. And we remember the accidents of Berger, Patrese, Warwick, Fittipaldi, Alliot, Zanardi. Genuine miracles. Even Martin Donnelly, who shattered his Lotus in Jerez, ultimately survived. The cars are safe, the survival cell withstands practically any impact. It is man who has become vulnerable inside the cockpit".
There has never been cohesion among the drivers. Attempts to create associations, discussion groups have always failed. In twenty years, even in Niki Lauda's time, only two protests are remembered. One in South Africa, but it was only to avoid paying the super license. The other in Zolder, for the death of a mechanic. An attempt was made not to start the race, but some drivers lined up anyway, and when the race started, another mechanic was seriously injured in a collision with Patrese's car...
"It's true. Until this moment, the drivers have not shown a professional conscience, a sense of unity. They have proved Ecclestone right in considering them simple employees, sometimes well-paid. It's time for them to make their voices heard. Although, with the passing of Senna, the only real possible union leader is gone. The situation is not easy, though: if a driver protests, he can be fired and replaced instantly. There is always someone willing to climb into a Formula 1 car at any cost. Let's hope that what happened at least serves to start over".
Tuesday, May 3, 1994, Formula 1 enters the courtroom. The Circus of speed will pass here, a strange procession between the offices and halls of the Bologna Palace. The champion's death is not just an open wound; from now on, it's something more, a point of no return. And while Ayrton Senna's body leaves the Institute of Legal Medicine gate in an incredible crowd, escorted by cell phones cutting through the crowd with sirens, amidst fainting, screams, and clamor, ambulances arriving, officers looking bewildered in the midst of this unreal confusion, in the middle of this sea of people breaking into a thousand clusters around the funeral car; while Bologna lays siege to the departing champion, the judges deliver the first notice of guarantee to Federico Bendinelli, CEO of Sagis, the company that manages the Imola circuit: manslaughter, the crime of the investigation. It's the first sign. Bendinelli explains:
"It's a matter of course, I imagine it's not just for me".
And as mandatory acts, which do not yet have a true accusatory value, other measures will be sent (someone says they may have already been sent) to all those who will need to be put in a position to defend themselves. A list that includes Luciano Conti, president of Sagis, Giorgio Poggi, race director of the Imola circuit, the responsible parties of the two cars involved in the incidents (Williams and Simtek), the owners of the Bell helmet company in Brussels, and the race director Roland De Bruynseraede, of whom Bendinelli says:
"The person who had the power to decide on everything about the Grand Prix, whether to stop it or not".
Formula 1, however, stops only now, behind the champion's body that is leaving, when it is 6:22 p.m. at the Bologna airport crowded with six hundred fans with Brazilian flags, National caps, flowers raised to the sky. And the other body, that of Roland Ratzenberger, forgotten somewhere at the morgue on Via Irnerio, suddenly deserted again, without police at the gates, without boys clinging to the grates. But in the meantime, if the show continues, it's not the same anymore. The witnesses of Formula 1 arrive at the Palace of Justice, the magistrates arrive at the track. At 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, at the Imola circuit, there are the Traffic Police officers, substitutes Maurizio Passarmi and Rinaldo Rosini.
In front of the Institute of Legal Medicine, at the same time, the usual faces of pain, the usual crowd of enthusiasts, the usual procession of fans with bouquets of flowers. Inside, Ayrton Senna's autopsy has begun. It ends at 11:00 a.m. Here is the report:
"Cerebral crushing, basal cranial-cerebral trauma with cardio-circulatory arrest".
The champion had died immediately, at 2:17 p.m. on Sunday, on the Imola track (except for the laws in force in 1994, which declare a person's death only when both cardio-circulatory and cerebral activity end). Now Roland Ratzenberger's autopsy begins, no one knows when it will end, no one asks, no one says. Via Irnerio continues to fill with people, Rebecca Baccarani continues to mourn the champion:
"I don't eat anymore, I can't take it".
At 11:00 a.m., the journalists arrive at the Palace of Justice. Francesco Pintor, the head of the Public Prosecutor's Office at the district magistrate, reads a statement:
"The investigations continue both of a technical nature and for the acquisition of any useful information from persons informed about the facts. The probative seizure of the Imola circuit will be maintained for the strictly necessary times for the completion of technical investigations".
That would be enough for him. But the siege has just begun. What are the technical investigations?
"These are the ones you saw carried out by Dr. Passarmi on the circuit. However, judicial investigations cannot be carried out in public".
Why did you only decide on the autopsies yesterday? No answer. But why did you initially say no?
"But these are baseless questions".
Why didn't you stop the race on Sunday?
"The judicial authority represses crimes but does not provide for such matters".
But wasn't the dangerous condition of the track obvious?
"There was no possibility of taking such measures".
Why didn't you seize it after the first death?
"But there was no reason to do so; we did it when we deemed it necessary".
Did you judge Senna's death more serious than Ratzenberger's?
"There is no difference".
But why didn't you open the investigation on Saturday?
"There was no reason to do so. We did it when it was right. When the office was informed, it intervened, and everything that needed to happen happened".
Then, when the crowd is gone, the investigators emphasize again that two weights and two measures were not used.
"In the first case, for Ratzenberger, it was not necessary to intervene because it was clear from the images that it was a mechanical accident".
True, false? And the witnesses?
"All persons informed about the facts will come here".
The entire world of Formula 1?
"Well, not exactly. Many, perhaps".
Drivers, team managers, and speed circus professionals will march into the courtroom. As news of the guarantees arrives, Senna's body is taken out. Brazilian journalists cling to the slowly moving car. It's 5:20 p.m. Senna's hearse leaves Bologna an hour later on the Dc9 of the Military Aeronautics made available by Scalfaro. A picket of honor from the carabinieri and more crowds. May 3, 1994, ends like this for Formula 1. It was not a good day. At 5:20 p.m., Ayrton’s coffin, wrapped in the green and gold Brazilian flag, leaves the Institute of Legal Medicine of Bologna on a black Mercedes and arrives at the Marconi airport of Bologna. He is carried on the plane of the Italian president and at 6:20 p.m. takes off to go to Paris, landing at the Charles de Gaulle airport. There, he is carried from Terminal 1 to the MD 11, on the flight Varig 723, ready to go to São Paulo. Celso Lemos, contracts manager of Senna’s holding, asked Varig’s president if the coffin could be transported inside the plane and not in the hold. He accepted and, as requested by Commander Reginaldo Gomes Pinto, sent a fax containing this provision. Some seats are dismantled and Ayrton is placed there, with curtains around him to separate this sector from the others. During the flight, journalist Livio Oricchio together with Galvão Bueno, Reginaldo Leme, Luis Roberto, Candido Garcia, and Ayrton’s staff formed by Betise Assumpção, Celso Lemos and Josef Leberer (Senna’s physiotherapist), are on his last trip with him. None of them can sleep and talk for the most part of the flight. Galvao tells many stories with Senna and every time slaps the coffin frustrated and says:
"Look how we’re bringing him back home now...".
The flight continues calmly, except for the fact that a photographer manages to sneak in to take a picture of the coffin. However, Celso Lemos notices the flash and intervenes immediately. Lemos, who doesn’t know what to do, asks Livio Oricchio to go there. Oricchio makes a deal with the photographer: he will take a picture of the coffin in Brazil, but now he has to delete the picture that he has just taken. The agreement is maintained some hours later. After a twelve-hours flight, on May 4, 1994, at 6:10 a.m., Commander Reginaldo Gomes Pinto lands gently at the Guarulhos airport in São Paulo. A few seconds later, the plane moves slowly towards the passenger terminal.
The curtains where Ayrton is remain closed. Journalists are searching for some news from anyone on the Varig flight from Paris. At that time, passengers became aware that Ayrton’s coffin was on that flight. When all passengers get off the plane, Viviane Senna and her husband get on the plane, while the group of journalists and friends get off. After a while, at 6:43 a.m., the coffin covered with the Brazilian flag is carried off the plane by the military police cadets and placed on a fire truck. The truck, from Guarulhos to Moema, has to pass through a huge crowd of people who came for Ayrton. So the long journey to the funeral home begins. Thirty are the kilometers to cover to get from the airport to the city centre. The procession crosses the favelas around the airport, the centre with its skyscrapers, residential villas districts and stops at the palace of the Legislative Assembly of the State of São Paulo in the Ibirapuera Park. The entire Brazilian militia is deployed in the streets, with the honours of a true hero. A sign says: Senna passed away in Imola, the third world thanks the first world. The Brazilians pay a tribute to their hero. Firefighters, cuirassiers, men on horseback and soldiers accompany Ayrton in his last trip, while the entire Brazil is in the streets: there is no social class distinction, they are all there, around five millions of people through the streets to pay their tribute to Ayrton Senna. Meanwhile, the Brazilian president Itamar Augusto Cautiero Franco declares:
"I suffer with all the country the loss of a brave and honoured young man who proved the Brazilians’ skills to the world".
Many years later, Neide, Ayrton’s mother, will confess:
"I knew that my son was a very loved person, but I didn’t know how much".
At the funeral, which takes place on May 4, 1994, at 11:00 a.m., there is a crowd of people. There are also Viviane and Leonardo, his friends, his lovers, Xuxa Meneghel and Adriane Galisteu (his last girlfriend) among them. On Sunday evening Adriane was awaiting Ayrton in Portugal, in Algarve, in the villa that he owned in Europe. After having seen the accident on television, Adriane was about to get on a plane to reach Imola, but she heard the news of Ayrton’s loss before doing it. However, she arrived at the funeral on her own by foot as anyone else because it seems like Leonardo Senna had known, a few hours before the San Marino Grand Prix, that Ayrton’s girlfriend was still in contact with her ex boyfriend. There is also his fitness coach, Nuno Cobra, who walks towards the coffin with his head down and his heart heavy with pain. After touching the coffin, he starts crying desperately. But there are also Ayrton’s colleagues and adventuring companions such as Ron Dennis, Frank Williams and Alain Prost. Alain, who was in Paris the day after the accident, receives a call from an old friend of his, Jean-Luc Lagadere. Fate wants that Jean-Luc Lagadere’s wife is brazilian. Alain takes the opportunity to ask for an advice:
"I’ve already bought the plane ticket. Do you think that I should go?"
The answer is certain: Alain has to go to pay its tribute to Ayrton. The Brazilians would have surely appreciated it. Alain just needed a suggestion to convince himself completely. He was afraid to receive a negative welcome, but Jean-Luc Lagadere removed all doubts. Alain deep inside knows that if he didn’t go, he would regret it forever. He doesn’t want to go to Brazil to make a good impression of himself; he feels it as a duty dictated by the pain for Ayrton’s loss. When he arrives in Brazil, there is no hostility towards him, as Jean-Luc Lagadere’s wife had said. On the contrary, Alain is warmly welcomed by Ayrton’s family. In addition, the day after the funeral, Milton - Ayrton’s father - invites him into his home to talk. On May 6, 1994, there will be just two hundred and fifty people at Roland Ratzenberger’s funeral. At the private ceremony, there are Gerhard Berger, who got back from São Paulo, Walter Lechner, Karl Wendelinger, Niki Lauda and Max Mosley, who declares:
"Roland was forgotten. I went to his funeral because everyone was at Ayrton’s. I thought it was important that someone went to his".